Uygur calligrapher writes beauty, harmony

URUMQI, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Amid dynamic music and Uygur dancing, Kurbanjan Rouzi picked up a special brush pen and wrote Uygur language on rice paper at the east gate of the ancient city of Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Yang Yongcai, a local calligrapher of Chinese characters standing beside, wrote the corresponding translation in Chinese characters: happiness comes from hard work.

Many tourists gathered to take photos while an internet celebrity live-streamed the event.

Saturday marked China's Cultural and Natural Heritage Day. Kashgar held a series of intangible cultural activities for Uygur and other ethnic minorities in its ancient city's scenic area.

Chen Rong, a tourist from Yunnan Province, said that she only knew that the Uygur music, dance and costumes were very distinctive but had little idea that the Uygur calligraphy was so beautiful.

Kurbanjan Rouzi, 53, has studied Uygur calligraphy for more than 30 years. His works have been exhibited in the Ethnic Library of China in Beijing.

What he remembered most was that when he went to Shenzhen University for an exhibition, many college students asked him about the details of Uygur calligraphy.

"It is the same as the calligraphy works of Chinese characters. The beauty conveyed is loved by everyone," the Uygur calligrapher said.

"In the past, ethnic minority families liked to hang carpets at home. Now, many families hang calligraphy works instead," he said with a smile.

Kurbanjan Rouzi was identified as an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Uygur calligraphy in 2014.

At the event site, Kurbanjan Rouzi wrote a big Chinese character, "Fu" ("happiness" in English), on a piece of traditional mulberry paper and then wrote four small "Fu" in four different Uygur calligraphy styles around it.

With more exchanges with calligraphers of Chinese characters over the past two years, Kurbanjan Rouzi gradually began to practice and study Chinese calligraphy. The locals love his works with two languages on a piece of paper.

In Xinjiang, the Chinese government has been promoting the standard spoken and written Chinese language while effectively protecting the right of ethnic minorities to learn and use their own languages.

Holding such activities in Kashgar can enable more tourists to better understand the Uygur culture and the richness and long history of the Chinese culture, Kurbanjan Rouzi said.